Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman
1949-1984
Howdy Doody, Hookers, Hammerlocks & Hollywood
My Dinner with Andre vs. My Breakfast with Blassie
More of a performance artist than a stand-up comedian, Andy Kaufman is known for his legendary exploits such as curling up in a sleeping bag and going to sleep in front of a bewildered audience at the Improv Comedy Club, lip-synching to the theme from Mighty Mouse on the debut episode of Saturday Night Live, appearing as Bachelor No. 3 (calling himself "Baji Kimran") on The Dating Game, working as a part-time busboy at Posh Bagel after he landed the role of Latka on Taxi, declaring himself "World Intergender Wrestling Champion" and feuding with Jerry "The King" Lawler on The David Letterman Show. In 1984, Kaufman died of lung cancer at the age of 35. Or did he? On the one-year anniversary of Kaufman's death, his alter ego Tony Clifton appeared live at The Comedy Store singing "I Will Survive." Among the audience included Rodney Dangerfield, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Dan Ackroyd and a then-unknown comic named Jim Carrey, who went on to star as Kaufman in the 1999 biopic, Man on the Moon.
On Childhood
"While all the other kids were out playing ball and stuff, I used to stay in my room and imagine that there was a camera in the wall. And I used to really believe that I was putting on a television show and that it was going out to somewhere in the world."
On Professional Wrestling
"The life of a part-time wrestler is no laughing matter. It's not just fun and games like most people think. You work out, train constantly, push your body to the limit of endurance and nobody seems to care. I have wrestled and defeated over 400 women and what do I get? The men call me a wimp, the women say I'm a sexist pig."
On Tony Clifton
"Everyone thinks he's me. It's really destroying his career."
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